Workers salvage recyclables from one of the picking lines at Gold Coast Recycling.

Assembly Bill 939 - the state law passed in 1989 that requires cities to cut by half the amount of trash they send to landfills – is working. It has changed the daily habits of Californians for the good of the environment.

A year after the law passed, Gold Coast Recycling and Transfer Station in Ventura opened its doors, and from day one, the facility has been at the forefront of California’s recycling movement.

Over the span of 20 years, Gold Coast has helped the cities it serves – Ventura, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Fillmore, Ojai, Santa Paula and Carpinteria – as well as the Channel Islands beach communities and a number of unincorporated areas of Ventura – surpass AB 939’s stringent trash diversion goals.

Gold Coast Recycling processes more than 70,000 tons of recyclable materials each year. It has achieved this through its partnership with Harrison Industries, which was among the first trash haulers in California to institute a successful, three-barrel residential curbside recycling program for trash, recycling and yard waste, plus the innovative “Unicycling” and C & D – “construction and demolition” – programs for businesses.

The company’s success can also be linked to its eagerness to do things that others won’t. Gold Coast, for instance, recycles 95 percent of the field plastics from our local strawberry farms, General Manager George Harrison points out.

Gold Coast is a state-of-the-art, 75,000-square-foot facility located on 7.8-acres at 5275 Colt Street. In 2003, it added a new automated residential sorting

system and additional equipment, including a new baler and a conveyor belt for an existing baler.

Last year, Gold Coast updated its commercial sorting system with a new cutting-edge model that is a foot wider, more heavy-duty and has two more picking stations to salvage 50 more tons of recyclable materials each day. And due to the strong business partnerships Gold Coast has developed over the years marketing recyclables, Gold Coast is able to quickly sell its high-quality sorted materials both nationally and abroad, even when prices and demand drop.

Recycling is a team effort that requires everyone – from individuals to businesses to the trash haulers – to do their part.

“If people and businesses get materials in the right recycling containers, my man on the floor gets it recycled,” promises Jose Garcia, a line supervisor for Gold Coast who has been with the company for 18 years. “But keeping it clean is very important.”

Gold Coast has close to 130 employees dedicated to keeping recyclable materials out of landfills. The workers include sorters, drivers, forklift operators and maintenance personnel as well as office staff members whose jobs include compiling diversion rate records for the company’s client cities.

Gold Coast operates from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. It’s a beehive of activity every minute.

“There’s never a dull moment,” says Operations Manager Steve Lorenzana, who has more than 30 years of experience in the recycling business and has been at Gold Coast since it opened 20 years ago.

To see what materials you can place in your blue recycling and tan yard waste containers, please turn to the back page of this edition of “Trash Flash.”

For more information on Gold Coast Recycling, call 642-9236, or visit www.goldcoastrecycling.com.

Be part of the solution to marine pollution! Join the tens of thousands of participants statewide who will clean debris from our beaches, shorelines and inland waterways on Saturday, Sept. 25, from 9 a.m. to noon, for the 26th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day.

In 2009, more than 80,600 volunteers worked together to collect more than 1.3 million pounds of trash and recyclables from our beaches, lakes and waterways. In Ventura County alone, 2,470 volunteers picked up 19,101 pounds of trash and salvaged 6,226 pounds of recyclable material.

California Coastal Cleanup Day has been hailed by the Guinness Book of World Records as “the largest garbage collection.” Since the program started in 1985, over 800,000 Californians have removed more than 14 million pounds of debris from our state’s shorelines and coast. When combined with the International Coastal Cleanup, which takes place on the same day, California Coastal Cleanup Day becomes part of one of the largest volunteer events of the year.

Coming at the end of the summer beach season and right near the start of the school year, Coastal Cleanup Day is a great way for families, students, service groups and neighbors to join together. Coastal Cleanup Day helps us take care of our fragile marine environment, shows community support for our shared natural resources, and teaches us about the impacts of marine debris and how we can prevent harm to the marine environment while having fun!

There are close to 20 cleanup sites in Ventura County. For participating beaches and waterways, call 1-800-COAST-4U, or visit www.vccoastcleanup.org.

Take Note of Monthly HHW Collection Events

Do you have old paint cans, insecticides, aerosol cans, motor oil or other automotive fluids, household batteries or burned-out fluorescent bulbs hanging around in the garage or cupboard?

If so, it’s time to clean them and other Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) out of your house. Due to the dangerous nature of these materials to people and the environment, the state has determined they may no longer be put into our regular trash or recycling containers. To dispose of them safely and legally, make an appointment for the monthly Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event sponsored by the City of Ventura.

There is no charge for this service for Ventura residents. Call weekdays 652-4525 to make an appointment for the events held on the third Saturday of each month (except December) at the Gold Coast Recycling Center and Transfer Station, located at 5275 Colt Street.

For more information, call the number above or download a brochure with the dates and accepted materials at www.cityofventura.net; type in “Household Hazardous Waste” in the search feature.

Collection dates for the rest of the year are:

• June 19
  
• July 17
  
• August 21
  
• September 18
  
• October 16
  
• November 20

Monthly Street-Sweeps Keep Debris out of Storm Drains

As part of your service with E. J. Harrison, residential streets are swept once a month, one or two weekdays after your trash is collected.

Not only does this improve the look of our neighborhood streets but it keeps litter, leaves, pet waste, grass clippings, sediment or debris that has collected in the gutters from going down the storm drains. Since storm drains empty directly into our waterways taking any debris with them, the more that is swept, the less chance of pollution going into the ocean.

To maximize this service, make an effort to move all vehicles out of the street between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. on your street-sweeping day. To find out which week your street is swept, go to www.cityofventura.net/streetsweeping or call 652-4525.

Keep a Lid on It

Seagulls love your trash – in particular, your food scraps – as you can see in this photo. If your trash bin is overflowing like this, please do all you can to compress it so that the lid is completely closed; that way, the seagulls can’t pick at your trash and spill it all over the street.

E.J. Harrison & Sons Recycling, Yard Waste and Trash Guidelines

What goes in the Trash?

Hopefully, very little.

After you have recycled, composted, filled the yard waste cart, donated old clothing and goods, and done all of those good things and more– most of the rest can go in the trash.

How to Place Your Cart for Automated Collection

The automated arm of the collection truck needs room to grab the cart. Carts should be placed 2-3 feet apart from each other and from objects such as mailboxes and cars with the wheels facing the curb.

Carts should be out by 7:00 a.m. on collection days.

What Doesn't go in the Trash or any other cart?

STOP No Hazardous Waste!! These items are NOT accepted for Trash or Recycling.

Hazardous Waste Tires TVs/Computer Monitors Batteries

Closed Containers Oil or Paints Fluorescent Light Tubes Medical Needles

For information on how to dispose of these items, please call:
Ventura: 652-4525